Then laugh’d the gay lord and lightly he said: + 

“I shall hold it all heal’d, the harm that I had; + 

Thou art confessèd so clean, and clear’d of misdeed, + 

And the penance hast paid at the point of mine axe, + 

That I hold thee as surely assoil’d of thy sin + 

As if thou never hadst faulted since first thou wert born. + 

And I give thee, for guerdon, the gold-hemm’d girdle; + 

It is green as my gown, and by it, Sir Gawain, + 

Thou may’st mind on this mellay each morn that thou ridest + 

With princes of price: ’tis thy precious token + 

Of this chance at the chapel, ’mongst chivalrous knights. + 

Now ye shall come this New-Year to my castle again + 

And we’ll revel the remnant of this feast so rich, + 

with joy.” + 

Then press’d him that gay lord: + 

“With my fair wife, think I, + 

We shall you well accord, + 

That was your enemy.” + 